Many children - ideas for organizing

I have six children, and I homeschool 3 of them. Additionally, my mother lives with us, as she is not in good health and I take care of her.

Sometimes I fantasize about having someone take my children on a vacation for a week and leave me home by myself. I feel that perhaps, in that setting, I could get 'ahead' of the game. It seems to be one step forward, two steps back in daily life.

Any suggestions for dealing with that feeling? Hopefully other times I will post helpful suggestions, but today I'm feeling low.

Replies to This Discussion

I have had that feeling before. I wanted to share my experience and what I learned through it. Several years ago, my mother did take the children one weekend and my husband and I went through the entire home with a fine tooth comb. We organized every drawer, cabinet, nook and corner. We washed every linen and dusted every shelf. While cleaning if we discovered we needed a bucket, box or tool to keep the items in order we wrote it down on our list and went out later and purchased what was needed. It was a VERY huge task! When my children arrived home they were shocked with how wonderful everything looked; now, everything had a place! It was beautiful.. I was exhausted but it was absolutely perfect..... for a day or two.... and then I learned a huge lesson:

Life isn't about "getting organized" it's about living organized! Therefore, since that time, I have included the children in my home organizational projects. I have three daughters and seven sons. Each of my girls assist me in keeping the home organized. The boys do more of the home projects and farm duties, I have one daughter that helps me with all desk work. She helps me keep the computer files organized, the home binder in order, the family calendar without conflicts and the bank accounts in the black. (I say she helps me because I oversee it but truthfully she does it. She is almost 18 and can manage this without much help from me at all) I have another daughter that does all our websites, farm orders, phone calls, and keeps the animals records in order. Again, I oversee everything but she has learned what I want, what works best for us and how to execute the tasks in front of her. My youngest daughter is by my side learning as she helps me keep all the school records in order. This is just one example. Each of them have areas of the home that are their strengths so we use those in keeping the home organized.

I hope some of that helped. I know how frustrating it can be to feel like things are in a disarray.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Joseph Wood (Jeanette)

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